Grasshopper is a multi-instrumentalist, lead guitarist and founding member of Mercury Rev. His other projects include Harmony Rockets and his own band Grasshopper and the Golden Crickets. Mercury Rev’s newest record, Born Horses, is yet another intriguing sonic step in the band’s evolution.  Born Horses is out September 6 via Bella Union.  Grasshopper shares his early relationship with music, how seeing Lou Reed steered the young horn-player to playing guitar and why he wound up focusing less on his guitar playing on the new record. He shares the process of writing Born Horses, how Brechtian Theatre and prose influenced the overall sound and why previous projects informed this process.  Joe and Grasshopper celebrate the “utility musician”, Grasshopper tells us a sweet story about his last memory in his favorite Buffalo bar and we hear a couple new tunes.

Mercury Rev 

Bella Union

Episode supported by Izotope

Episode supported by Distrokid

Episode supported by Thunder Road Guitars